Isaac and Sally made their way to the courtyard, where they saw the others hanging out. But this time, there were a few more people present. There was a small rabbit and her mother, to which the former was making a snowman with Lily. There was a large, green crocodile wearing a scarf and headphones, but he was unsurprisingly still shaking from the cold. A purple chameleon and a bee were present as well, the bee making snow angels in the fresh snow from yesterday evening. Knuckles was red in face with anger, chasing a white bat wearing a white winter coat around the courtyard. Knuckles had flecks of snow in his dreadlocks, indicating the bat had thrown a snowball at him.
"Hey guys, we're here!" Sally announced, walking onto the courtyard.
"Man, about time you guys got here! What were you doing this morning?" The bat asked, still out of reach of Knuckles.
Sally blushed immediately but was able to hide it from everyone else.
"I just woke up. Isaac was waiting for me, alright? I'm not always an early riser, Rouge." Sally answered, lying rather convincingly.
"Just woke up? It's almost 10' in the morning! What were you doing last night?" Rouge asked.
Instead of Sally trying to explain, Isaac interjected.
"Sally was helping me recover from what happened yesterday. I was barely able to move last night, so she had to walk me from the infirmary to my quarters, which is all the way across the castle. I could not walk fast, so she had to help me limp to my quarters. By the time I had woken up from the infirmary and taken to my quarters, it was about 4' in the morning." Isaac lied, creating an elaborate story.
Rouge nodded, slightly curious about the incident that occurred yesterday.
"Oh, by the way Isaac, how are you feeling today?" Sonic asked.
"I am feeling much better today, my friend! Now that we have that out of the way, are you not going to introduce me to the others?" Isaac asked.
Lily walked to Isaac with the small rabbit, who was wearing a very thick orange winter coat.
"What is your name, little one?" Isaac asked, crouching down.
"My name is Cream, Mr. Isaac." She replied.
Isaac chuckled to himself, never once being called 'Mr. Isaac'.
"Very polite of you! Your mother must be proud, knowing she has such a polite daughter." Isaac responded.
"She is!" Cream's mother replied, walking to Cream.
Isaac stood up, only taller than her mother by a few inches.
"It is an honor to meet you, Ma'am. May I ask what your name is?" Isaac asked, extending a hand.
"It's Vanilla. It's so nice to meet you, Mr. Isaac!" Vanilla said, shaking Isaac's hand.
This time, Isaac was careful to not be too strong with his grip. After shaking Vanilla's hand, he walked to the Chaotix team, which included the crocodile, chameleon, and bee.
"Hey, nice to meet ya! Name's Vector!" The crocodile said, introducing himself.
This time, Isaac was not careful in showing his strength. But it didn't phase Vector at all. In fact, Vector was slightly impressed by his grip… but only slightly. After Isaac let go, he moved onto the chameleon and the bee.
"My name is Espio. The child next to me is Charmy. It's a pleasure to meet you." Espio formally said, bowing.
Charmy, while still flying, attempted to bow as well, but he only managed to somersault repeatedly while still flying.
"Whee, this is fun! Espio, you gotta try this!" Charmy exclaimed, still somersaulting.
Espio only facepalmed, embarrassed by his coworker's antics.
"Yeah, I doubt I need to introduce myself. Sally kinda did that for you." Rouge said, floating back down to the ground.
"It would still be nice to know you." Isaac said, extending a hand.
"It's Rouge. Hey, between you and me, is there something happening between you and Sal? I promise I won't say anything!" Rouge asked, shaking Isaac's hand.
Isaac was taken aback by this. It seems everyone thought there was something between him and the princess he had sworn to protect. Of course, even if there was something between them, he could tell Rouge was lying about keeping it to herself.
"I assure you, the relationship between me and Princess Sally is strictly platonic. But on the subject, is there something between you and Knuckles? It surely seems like it." Isaac asked, giving Rouge a taste of her own medicine.
Rouge brightly blushed, not expecting that kind of question out of Isaac's mouth. She quickly stopped shaking his hand and attempted to hide her blushing.
"That… that's a ridiculous question! Of course not! His head is thicker than a boulder!" Rouge blurted out, attempting to distance herself from the question.
Isaac chuckled, knowing he had struck a nerve. But he didn't pursue it any further. If there was one thing he didn't like, besides lying, it was pressing an unwelcome matter unto someone else.
"Hey, Isaac! Silver and Blaze were supposed to come here too, but I guess they're a bit late. The train might be a bit slow with all the snow from last night." Amy explained.
"I am confused. Why are so many people coming here? Granted, it is nice to know everyone, but I do not understand why so many in one day." Isaac asked.
"Oh, well that's easy! Usually, we meet up at Station Square, but since Sally can't leave the Kingdom this year, we decided to come here to celebrate!" Amy explained.
"Celebrate? Celebrate what?" Isaac asked.
Amy's face went from excitement to shock. She couldn't believe Isaac didn't know what was just coming around the corner.
"What?! You don't know what's happening in a few days?!" Amy asked, awestruck.
"I cannot say I do. Does everyone know?" Isaac asked.
"Uh, yeah! In four days, it's going to be the best day of the year!" Amy exclaimed.
"Really? But spring is not for another 4 months." Isaac replied.
Amy was still dumbfounded that Isaac wasn't catching.
"Christmas! In four days, it's going to be Christmas! Now, do you get it?!" Amy asked, revealing the big 'secret' to Isaac.
Isaac was only a little familiar with Christmas. His upbringing with his parents, while short, was one of love and joy. But his parents never really did anything different around winter, except for the Solstice, where they would bring in an evergreen tree and decorate it with many different ornaments, most of them handmade. His father would get drunk on home-brewed mead and sing hymnals around the fire and his mother would make hot chocolate from cocoa beans that she would trade for in the summer. Perhaps this was Christmas to Isaac, but he didn't know how others celebrated it.
"Is there a tree with decorations involved?" Isaac asked.
Amy quickly nodded her head, excited that Isaac may actually know what she was talking about.
"I remember something. My father would sing hymnals, praising the birth of Elohim's son. And my mother, she would make me hot chocolate from cocoa beans. Is that Christmas?" Isaac asked.
"Yes! At least, one part of it! It's settled! We're going to get you through as many traditions as possible to give you and Lily the best Christmas ever!" Amy exclaimed, grabbing Isaac's hand, and pulling him towards the marketplace.
"Amy, where are you taking me?!" Isaac asked, feeling like she was going to pull his arm out of the socket!
"First stop is caroling! We're going to find a group of carolers and hear them sing!" Amy replied, dragging Isaac further into the town.
Eventually, they found a group of carolers, who were dressed in clothing reminiscent of 18th Century London. They were huddled together, singing from a book of hymnals. They were singing 'Hark! The Herald Angels Sing', which was always one of Isaac's favorites. He would remember his father singing this in the mornings, often being what would wake Isaac from his sleep when he was younger. Amy was captivated by the carolers, hoping that the song would be something Isaac would enjoy. After they were done with the song, Amy looked to Isaac, wanting to see his reaction. She was shocked to see Isaac wiping away tears from his eyes, his snow-laden sleeve gently scratching his face.
"Isaac, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to make you sad!" Amy apologized.
"No, it is not that. It… it is nothing like I have heard in a long time!" Isaac replied, reaching into his pocket.
Producing a few rings, he put them into the container the carolers carried. After a thank you and a tip from their hats, they resumed singing. As they did, the rest of the Sonic Team finally caught up.
"Sheesh, Amy! We know you love Christmas, but you can't forget about us!" Vector said, loosening the scarf around his neck.
"Sorry, guys! Well, what do you want to do next?" Amy asked Isaac.
Isaac didn't know what to do next! Seeing all the opportunities around him, he couldn't decide! As he continued to think, he heard someone shout towards the group.
"Hey! Over here!" A voice shouted.
Isaac turned around, seeing a silver hedgehog and a purple cat.
"Silver! Blaze!" Tails exclaimed, running to the two.
Silver was walking next to blaze, wearing a pair of earmuffs and a scarf, while Blaze was wearing a purple parka.
"What took you guys?" Sonic asked.
"The train was delayed because of ice on the tracks. But Blaze was able to melt the ice on the track to get it moving." Silver explained.
As they walked to the team, they noticed Isaac. Silver was the first one to introduce himself.
"Name's Silver! Silver the Hedgehog!" Silver said, shaking Isaac's hand.
"Isaac. Isaac Abaddon." Isaac said, introducing himself as well.
After introducing himself to Silver, he moved on to Blaze. But instead of shaking her hand, he bowed to her, recognizing the gem on her forehead as a sign of royalty.
"I bow to you, Princess Blaze. I am Isaac. Isaac Abaddon." Isaac said, formally introducing himself.
Blaze, while surprised by his formal introduction, followed suite.
"Greetings, Isaac Abaddon. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." She said, bowing.
As soon as introductions were over with, they filed into the Inn, so as to seek respite from the cold and snow. A large table near the fireplace was vacant. Sally walked over to the manager of the Inn, while the others sat themselves at the table. As Silver and Vector were taking off their scarves, and the others were taking off their coats inside the warm Inn, Isaac sat himself near the fireplace, which was ready to go out. Isaac put a log into the hearth, but it was failing to catch. Looking around, he made sure there were no suspicious characters around. Isaac took off his right glove and aimed his palm at the log in the hearth. After his hand warmed, he expelled a small fireball, igniting the hearth. This was met with admiration from Blaze.
"Sally didn't tell me you were pyrokinetic. It's nice to meet another one out here!" Blaze said.
Isaac shook his head, putting his glove back on.
"I only found out yesterday. I am still having trouble with controlling my power. But as long as I keep it small, I cannot lose control." Isaac responded.
"It's best to know your limits. If you don't, you won't know how to control it when you need to use it to defend yourself." Blaze explained.
Isaac sighed, feeling like he's been told something a hundred times, but still can't understand it. But before Isaac could say anything else, the manager came walking towards the table with a tray full of tankards.
"Happy Holidays, Sonic Team! I've got a round of eggnog for all of you, on the house!" The manager said, setting the tray down on the table.
Without reluctance, everyone took a mug of eggnog. Isaac and Lily were hesitant, since they didn't know what was in it.
"Sir, what is in it?" Isaac asked.
The manager turned back around, leaning on the table.
"Oh, eggs, cream, milk, sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. Made fresh every day. Heck, I can barely keep up with how many people order it! Well, enjoy!" He said, walking back to the counter.
Sonic held his tankard up, followed by everyone else lifting theirs.
"Merry Christmas, guys! And to Lily and Isaac, merry first Christmas!" Sonic announced.
"Merry Christmas!" They all said, clinking their tankards together, before bringing it to their lips.